Personalized storage boxes

We have bought some time ago 2 simple storage boxes. We have them for our toiletries. We try to buy them (toiletries) when on offer and that is why we can end up with 6 bottles of shampoo and 10 tubes of toothpaste. So we store them in the boxes on the top of the wardrobes. Boxes were quite cheap £16 for one. This is what I did with them.

They were untreated soft wood.

Firstly I wanted some sort of design on them. Just make them more interesting. I taught that having first letter of our names will also help us to recognise "our staff". :-)
I have just printed large letters in font I liked. Then put it in the middle and with sharp pen made "contours".

 After I have just followed it with pencil.

 And then with black permanent marker. To make it even more interesting I have added "dots"

After that I have erased the pencil where it was showing.

Then followed staining. I have used interior wood stain in dark oak colour. I really like staining. It is easier then painting and it dries very quickly. Also this one have very low VOC (it doesn't smell) and you can wash the brush just with water. Staining also makes the wood water resistant.

After just 10 minutes box is done. I got this colour just after 1 coat!

 See how big difference it makes!

 All done! Cheap boxes looks so nice! The top one has the true colour. The bottom one is not so "orange" in real. Sorry picture taken in the end of the day when it was dark.

 Before                                                                           After